SoCal woman slit boyfriend’s throat and buried his corpse in ‘makeshift tomb’ after he complained about dinner

A SoCal woman who slashed her boyfriend’s throat and stashed his corpse inside a “makeshift tomb” after he complained about her cooking was sentenced last week to 15 years in prison.

A San Bernadino jury in November found Trista Spicer, 43, guilty of second-degree murder for the October 2014 slaying of her then-boyfriend, Eric Mercado, 42, in the couple’s home, according to police and court documents.

Spicer testified during her trial that she struck Mercado in the head several times with a cast iron skillet after the father of two complained about the dinner she served him, according to The San Bernadino Sun.

Spicer testified that she then stabbed Mercado in the neck with a kitchen knife.

Spicer enlisted a friend to help her wrap the corpse in a deflated air mattress, and the two hid the body beneath a concrete staircase in her backyard. She later recruited a homeless friend to construct a brick wall over the space to entomb Mercado’s body, she said.

Mercado’s family reported him missing in 2014, but his whereabouts remained a mystery until nearly eight years later, when Spicer told her boyfriend at the time she needed to remove his corpse because her family wanted to sell the house, according to the Sun.

On August 23, 2022, cops served a search warrant of Spicer’s house acting on a tip from her then-boyfriend and made the grisly discovery.

“During the service of the search warrant, investigators observed what appeared to be a makeshift tomb on the property,” read a statement from the San Bernadino Police at the time. “Investigators entered the makeshift tomb and located human remains.”

Spicer said in court that Mercado beat her continuously, a charge denied by his family.

Mercado’s sister, Mahira Torres, addressed Spicer at her sentencing on Friday, calling her brother’s killer “evil,” according to The Sun.

“You took my brother’s life, and you shattered ours,” said Torres.

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Torres said the mystery of her brother’s disappearance for eight years devastated their family.

“As time went by, life just got harder and harder to live for me, as well as my family — the thought of not knowing what happened … not knowing if he’s alive or dead, or suffering waiting to get saved — that really broke me,” Torres said, according to The Sun.

“My family went eight years trying to get answers, and it seemed like everybody knew about it except his close family,” she added.

Torres described Mercado as a loving father and person of integrity who taught her to chase her dreams, The Sun reported.

“I will always feel thankful and blessed for the love I received from my brother,” Torres said. “He taught me to go after anything in life with a fearless mindset.”

The San Bernadino Sheriff was holding Spicer before her transfer to California state prison, according to court documents.